so a couple weeks ago when i went to visit my sister, i saw some typical south carolina fare:
the South Carolina peach, which my best friend and i lovingly refer to as "the butt"
oh yes, walmart... where "i'd rather be fishing" and "JESUS" license plates are kindred merchandise
...is that i know y'all were excited about hearing about the frame class. and i dropped it. because i got way overwhelmed. please don't be mad.
the one class i sat in before i freaked and dropped was really good. actually, you can listen to his whole lecture series on the topic for free - iTunesU, baby.
the rest of the news is random. here are the basics:
1) i'm joining my beloved church next sunday.
2) i'm loving clinique's 15-minute-facial.
3) i'm going to winston for the weekend to hang out with my best college buds. :)
4) i'm wracked with guilt because i don't know how to contact my beloved cousin leslie, who commented here a few weeks ago and called me. i'm hoping she comes back and emails me or something. {webs - my email is, sans spaces, l k p johnson @ g mail . com}
5) i miss my sister. i miss the rest of my family too, but i've seen them recently.
6) i hate food poisoning. be glad there isn't something like a picture for me to show.
7) seminary is hard.
a lot of stuff has happened, but mostly it hasn't changed things. i went to dallas to hang with the fam. i came back. i've done a lot of homework. i went to portland, or for a friend's wedding. i came back. i got jetlagged. i got sick. i missed class. i did a lot more homework. i'm swamped. seminary is insane.
but i love it.
more later - the soon kind of later. scout's honor.
let's see, since i wrote last, i have...
gone to RUF summer conference
moved into my apartment in Charlotte
graduated from college
hung out with my sister in my new town
gone to Chicago to attend a cousin's wedding
family vacation, including a drive from Chicago to Myrtle Beach, stopping off in Pennsylvania to visit my grandfather en route
tomorrow is my first day in seminary.
whoohoo, eh?
i'll be back more now that my life has settled down a bit, and i'll keep you posted.
first class up: pastoral and social ethics. should be fun.
spring break was wonderful - drove from nc to tx and back, with a couple of fun stops along the way. my room mate and i had fun on the road and in the big D, and it was fun to hang out with the fam, of course. big news items: 1) i got a new camera. it's brown and adorable and (this is the kicker) it works. so yay for that. 2) i got into rts charlotte, and i'm going there. so yay for that. i'm seriously thrilled beyond verbal expression. that's saying alot for me.
i obviously took spring break off from blogging - didn't initially decide to do that, but i definitely think it was for the best. however, i would like to blog 40 hymns again this lent, so this week i'm doubling up. whoohoo!
picking up where we left off, in the middle of a "welcome to the church - we're screwed up too!" mini-series....
Come, Ye Disconsolate
come, ye disconsolate, where e'er ye languish
come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, Light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
"earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."
here see the Bread of life; see waters flowing
forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
come to the feast of love, come ever knowing,
earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove.
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ok, so this is less of a communal hymn than a private one, but i think the fact that it's specifically addressing those of us who are especially broken and wounded. ours is not a "get fancy and then come" religion, but one which is the only hope of those who are total trainwrecks. you know, people like us.
Jesus, Cast a Look on Me
Jesus, cast a look on me;
give me sweet simplicity.
make me poor and keep me low,
seeking only Thee to know.
all that feeds my busy pride,
cast it evermore aside;
bid my will to Thine submit;
lay me humbly at Thy feet.
make me like a little child,
of my strength and wisdom spoiled -
seeing only in Thy light,
walking only in Thy might;
leaning on Thy loving breast,
where a weary soul can rest;
feeling well the peace of God
flowing from His precious blood.
in this posture let me live,
and hosannas daily give.
in this temper let me die,
and hosannas ever cry!
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i like this one. it is about what some puritan writer dude whose name escapes me calls "cheerful dependence" on God. the thing that is most amazing about this song in my opinion is that all these things we ask in it - to be laid humbly at God's feet; to have what makes us proud chucked by the wayside; to be revealed to ourselves as neither strong nor wise - these are good things for us! they are not self-sacrificial (ramen noodles) but the very meat and potatoes of human existence! they position us in the "posture" which we were made for - resting and rejoicing in God in the midst of the stuff of life.
funny how staying in a hotel room with your mom and sister, neither of whom are night people, can affect your blogging routine. hence two hymns tonight.
Love Constraining to Obedience
to see the law by Christ fulfilled, to hear His pard'ning voice
changes a slave into a child, and duty into choice.
no strength of nature can suffice
to serve the Lord aright.
and what she has, she misapplies,
for want of clearer light.
to see the law by Christ fulfilled, to hear His pard'ning voice
changes a slave into a child, and duty into choice.
how long beneath the law i lay
in bondage and distress!
i toiled the precept to obey
but toiled without success.
to see the law by Christ fulfilled, to hear His pard'ning voice
changes a slave into a child, and duty into choice.
then to abstain from outward sin
was more than i could do;
now if i feel its power within,
i feel i hate it too.
to see the law by Christ fulfilled, to hear His pard'ning voice
changes a slave into a child, and duty into choice.
then all my servile works were done,
a righteousness to raise -
now freely chosen in the Son
i freely choose His ways.
to see the law by Christ fulfilled, to hear His pard'ning voice
changes a slave into a child, and duty into choice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jesus sets us free by His death, and from that point on, our lives are not sin offerings or guilt offerings, but thanksgiving offerings. we seek to please God, not because we need to get His favor, but because we love Him. we are rescued, set apart from sin and death and for life in the Spirit - life and health and peace.
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Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
Jesus, i my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee.
destitute, despised, forsaken - Thou from hence my all shall be.
perish every fond ambition, all i sought or hoped or known.
yet how rich is my condition! God and heaven are still my own.
let the world despise and leave me; they have left my Savior too.
human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like man, untrue.
o while Thou dost smile upon me, God of wisdom, love and might,
foes may hate and friends disown me, show Thy face and all in bright.
man may trouble and distress me - 'twill but drive me to Thy breast.
life with trials hard may press me; heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
o 'tis not in grief to harm me while Thy love is left to me.
o, 'twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unmixed with Thee.
go, then, earthly fame and treasure; come, disaster, scorn, and pain.
in Thy service, pain is pleasure; with Thy favor, loss is gain.
i have called Thee Abba Father, I have stayed my heart on Thee.
storms may howl, and clouds may gather; all must work for good to me.
soul, then know Thy full salvation, rise o'er sin and fear and care.
joy to find in every station, something still to do or bear.
think what Spirit dwells within thee, think what Father's smiles are thine,
think that Jesus died to win thee; child of heaven, canst thou repine.
haste thee on from grace to glory, armed by faith and winged by prayer.
heaven's eternal days before thee, God's own hand shall guide us there.
soon shall close thy earthly mission; swift shall pass thy pilgrim days.
hope shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jesus is enough for us. since i have Him, as jo dee messina would say, "bring on the rain."
yesterday i went to visit rts charlotte, then came back to dinner with em and laura before finishing a paper and reading 75 pages and writing questions on the 75 pages for class discussion and then get up this morning early to go read my paper to my professor, go to class, eat lunch, go to class again, and then run home to pack and order things before leaving for charleston, which is where i am now with kate and mom. i'm utterly exhausted.
i loved rts charlotte though.
Thy Mercy, My God
Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue.
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
hath won my affection and bound my soul fast.
without Thy sweet mercy i could not live here -
sin would reduce me to utter despair;
but through Thy free goodness my spirits revive,
and He that first made me still keeps me alive.
Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
which wonders to feel its own hardness depart.
dissolved by Thy goodness, i fall to the ground,
and weep to the praise of the mercy i've found.
great Father of mercies, Thy goodness i own,
and the covenant love of Thy crucified Son.
all praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine.
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there's a heap of stuff here. i think i will focus just on the last line of the second stanza: "He that first made me still keeps me alive." there are two levels of this: the obvious, breathing, blood pumping meaning and the spiritual, preservation of the saints meaning. in both cases, God creates and then sustains. He starts and He finishes and He does everything in between.
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O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing!
o, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise,
the glorious of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.
"Jesus," the Name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease -
tis music in the sinner's ears, tis life and health and peace.
He breaks the power of cancelled sin; He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.
He speaks, and listening to His voice, new life the dead receive;
the mournful, broken hearts rejoice; the humble poor believe.
hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb your loosened tongues employ;
ye blind - behold your Savior come; and weep, ye lame, for joy.
my gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim,
to spread through all the earth abroad the honors of Thy Name.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
skip ryan tells the story of when queen elizabeth ii came to uva while he was pastoring trinity pres up there. he said she packed more charisma and "presence" than anyone he'd ever seen. she walked down a path toward the rotunda, and everyone just stood there in silent awe. when she got to the front, she turned around and gave one big wave. in unison, the whole crowd gave a big wave back. they were utterly transfixed. but the thing is that while QE2 is certainly still able to hold our attention, even transfix us, any claim she had to ruling us is ancient history. that's like sin. to put it in the terms of the hymn, justification means sin doesn't count against us in the courtroom; sanctification means sin's hold on us is being diminished. the agent in both activities is God.
thank goodness it's not up to us.
this is a hymn that dr. francis collins, head of the human genome project and keynote speaker at the national prayer breakfast (which i attended this year), led us in singing. it was pretty sweet.
brave guy. last year, bono spoke - and didn't sing. but dr. collins did. he was a fantastic speaker, by the way.
Praise the Source of Faith and Learning
praise the Source of faith and learning Who has sparked and stoked the mind
with a passion for discerning how the world has been designed.
let the sense of wonder flowing from the wonders we survey
keep our faith forever growing and renew our need to pray.
God of wisdom, we acknowledge that our science and our art
and the breadth of human knowledge only partial truth impart.
far beyond our calculation lies a depth we cannot sound
where Your purpose for creation and the pulse of life are found.
as two currents in a river fight each other's undertow,
till, converging, they deliver one coherent steady flow,
may we blend our faith and learning till they carve a single course
and our seeking and our yearning join in praising You their source.
and i know it. but things got nuts after my splendid birthday party - or rather starting then - and i'm a busy girl. tomorrow is like a haven - my one class has been cancelled, and i'm not going to set my alarm and i'm going to take a dear friend formal dress shopping and i'm going to work on a paper and we have a volleyball game (of course).
thankfully, we did better at today's game. much better, in fact. we almost won! it was kinda trippy.
i have five papers to write before the end of the term, and a trip to st louis and thanksgiving in between now and then. it's kinda intense.
things are looking not only up, but downright ducky.